Vitals

Daniel Craig as William Lee, dissolute American expatriate

Mexico City, Spring 1951 and 1953

Film: Queer
Release Date: November 27, 2024
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Costume Designer: Jonathan Anderson

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Following the success of Challengers earlier in the year, director Luca Guadagnino kept his 2024 momentum going with Queer, adapted from the 1985 novella by Beat Generation icon William S. Burroughs—who died 28 years ago today, on August 2, 1997. Daniel Craig stars as William Lee, a clear stand-in for Burroughs, complete with the author’s distinctive wardrobe, substance issues, and ever-present handgun—albeit with some of the rougher edges sanded down for the screen.

Premiering at the 81st Venice International Film Festival in competition for the Golden Lion, Queer earned Craig many deserved nominations from organizations including the Critics’ Choice Awards, Golden Globes, and Screen Actors Guild, though many considered it a surprising omission from the Academy Awards.

We meet Lee among a community of American expatriates in early 1950s Mexico City, where the real Burroughs had fled to late 1949 to evade prosecution after New Orleans police discovered his stash of drugs and unregistered firearms. He was soon joined by his common-law wife Joan Vollmer, her daughter, and their infant son. Queer omits Burroughs’ family from Lee’s narrative, though their real presence didn’t stop him from freely pursuing relationships with local men like Adelbert Lewis Marker, a 21-year-old recently discharged from the U.S. Army whom he met at the Bounty Bar in May 1951.

Marker appears on page and screen as Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), the aloof object of Lee’s largely unreciprocated affections, though—in both life and fiction—the pair traveled together through South America that summer.  Queer paints the duo’s journey as a near-mythic quest into the Ecuadorian jungle as Lee seeks ayahuasca—a psychedelic drug brewed from local yagé that he hopes will provide telepathic abilities to deepen his connection with Allerton.

On the night of September 6, 1951, shortly after Burroughs’ return to Mexico City, he was many drinks deep at a party above the Bounty Bar when he asked Vollmer to help him demonstrate their “William Tell” act. She obliged by placing a highball glass on her head, and he raised his .38-caliber semi-automatic Star pistol and fired—instantly killing the 28-year-old Vollmer with a single shot through her forehead. Or so Burroughs initially claimed.

“Brilliant and well versed in philosophy and literature, Joan was the whetstone against which the main Beat writers—Allen [Ginsburg], Jack [Kerouac], and Bill—sharpened their intellect,” writes Brenda Knight in The Women of the Beat Generation. “Widely considered one of the most perceptive people in the group, her strong mind and independent nature helped bulldoze the Beats toward a new sensibility.”

While Queer doesn’t include the specifics of Vollmer’s death, it casts a long shadow over the film. First, when a staggeringly drunk Lee spies Allerton’s occasional girlfriend Mary (Andra Ursuța)  demonstrating a playful William Tell act with a toy gun above their usual bar Ship Ahoy, and again in full surreal force during the finale as Lee hallucinates shooting Allerton in circumstances eerily mirroring Vollmer’s tragic death.

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What’d He Wear?

Following his first collaboration with Luca Guadagnino on Challengers (which was also his first screen costume design credit), costume designer Jonathan Anderson—director of eponymous fashion label JW Anderson—was tapped to adapt William S. Burroughs’ contemporary style from the early 1950s to Daniel Craig’s characterization of his nomen à clef William Lee.

“The idea for me was that he would go from Cocaine White to Black,” Anderson explained to Anna Tingley for Variety. “And I like this idea that as the film goes, you’re going back and forward, back and forward, until you end up with this character who is in the end of life.”

Lee’s Shirts

Thus, we meet Lee on the end of a yet another failed pickup attempt, dressed in bleached tones from his plain white cotton shirt through the orphaned trousers of his go-to cream suit in Mexico City. “You have Lee, played by Daniel, at the beginning wearing this shirt that’s optic white,” Anderson described it to Liam Hess for Vogue. “[There’s] this idea of it being pristine, like cocaine.”

Lee wears the shirt’s long sleeves unbuttoned and rolled up his forearms, with the front placket undone at the top for an open-neck. The shirt also has a breast pocket and box-pleated back.

Following this, Lee almost exclusively wears yellowed short-sleeved popover shirts with deceptively long plackets—a style that looks borrowed from the real Burroughs’ wardrobe.

When Lee first meets Allerton, he wears a buttery golden-hued shirt with a silky finish—likely made from a synthetic faux-silk fabric like rayon or nylon. Three buttons are spaced out along the plain (French) placket that extends down to Craig’s abdomen, with the highest of the three positioned just below a top button at the neck, though Lee wears both of these undone. The shirt has a narrow spread collar and the elbow-length sleeves are reinforced with sewn cuffs.

After that and for most of the scenes set in Mexico City (both in 1951 and during the 1953-set epilogue), Lee wears a paler cream-colored popover shirt with a similar cut, though it has a longer point collar and a more defined placket—albeit of similar length and button configuration.

The Cream Suit

When I was doing the research on Burroughs when he was younger, the time when the book is set, he was wearing these sort of industrialized suits that were kind of anti-fitting. They were so burned out that they had a life of their own. He had these subtleties, which I really liked. He would undo the top button in a lot of imagery that I had found, and I thought the idea of the white linen suit, or the white nylon mix, for me was something where you go in the beginning of the film from an optic white through to the darkness at the end of the film. It’s like a degradation of color as the film goes on. It was something that would yellow as we would go through the process, nearly like the idea of heroin.

— Costume designer Jonathan Anderson’s interview with Sophie Lee for Cultured

Lee actually cycles between two very similar off-white linen (or linen-blend) suits while in Mexico City. While Anderson almost exclusively sourced original deadstock or vintage clothing from the era, these two tailored pieces were the sole costumes custom-made for the film as reported by Anna Tingley reported for Variety, also citing Anderson’s wish for “Lee’s clothing to look like it was hanging off a depleted carcass,” with the designer adding that “Lee’s suit became really important because I wanted a suit which was mass produced and done in department stores just after the war but also something that, as a viewer watching, you could smell it.” Anderson elaborated on the scent to Joe McGovern for The Wrap, adding that “I feel like I can smell his suit. It reminds me of my grandfather. That smell of cigarettes and aftershave.”

Anderson also chronicled to The Wrap his collaborative process working with Daniel Craig, just a few years removed from his elegantly dressed tenure as James Bond: “There was this big rack of vintage clothing and I was trying to sell him on the idea that we were only going to have one garment for the whole movie. And he got it instantly. Long racks of suits and Daniel picked the right one. Yeah, he picked exactly the one that we wanted to use. He got the whole idea right away.”

The vision emerged from Anderson’s research that the real Burroughs frequently wore off-the-rack suits from department stores like Sears, crafted from blends of linen, viscose, and polyester and wool, during this post-World War II era when menswear was becoming more mass-produced. “Luca shoots on film, so I also felt it was very important for the clothing to have this incredible film-like textural quality,” Anderson explained to Vogue. “That’s what I love about very good cinema: those textures you find in the 1950s or ’60s with the clothing—it’s never just a flat surface.”

Lee’s two off-white linen single-breasted jackets in Mexico City are styled similarly, with notch lapels, single back vent, and a three-button front that he wears à la Burroughs with the lowest two buttons fastened, adding Anderson’s desired characteristic carcass-like slouch to the jackets’ fashionably full ’50s-style cuts, framed by padded shoulders and a roomy, shapeless fit through the chest and hips.

Exclusively seen in the 1951 scenes, Lee’s first single-breasted jacket has a less dramatic texture and set-in pockets that are more conventional to men’s business tailoring, including a welted breast pocket and straight flapped hip pockets. The cuffs are detailed with two vestigial cuffs matching the three-button front.

Most prominently featured during the 1953 epilogue but also some earlier sequences (specifically his hazy night following Allerton to the party above the bar, then his subsequent dream), Lee also wears a nearly identical jacket with sportier patch pockets over the breast and hips, also differentiated by the slightly rounded corners on the lapel notches and its three (rather than two) cuff buttons, all echoing the more briefly seen pale-gray suit worn in some of the later 1951-set scenes. This jacket also has more noticeable slubs and flecks woven into the suiting.

Both suits’ matching trousers have double reverse-facing pleats and turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms, both common details during the movie’s timeframe as American tailors and menswear manufacturers took advantage of no more wartime fabric rationing. The trousers have a zip fly, side pockets, and jetted back pockets—with the back-left pocket fastened through a single button and a loop.

Through the belt loops, he wears a dark-brown leather belt that closes through a simple gold-toned single-prong buckle, necessary to hold up his trousers as well as to support the black leather outside-the-waistband (OWB) holster in which he carries his revolvers, butt-forward in the 9 o’clock position on the left side of his waist for a right-handed cross-draw.

Everything Else, from Head to Toe

To complete Anderson’s costume vision that “everything had to fit in a suitcase” as explained to Joe McGovern for The Wrap, no duplicates were made: “Everything was original, including the underwear and shoes and eyeglasses.”

From the streets of Mexico City to deep in the Ecuadorian jungle, Lee wears dark taupe-brown leather cap-toe oxfords that have higher uppers like ankle boots.

Continuing Anderson’s intention for parts of Lee’s costume to look increasingly heroin-dyed, every glimpse of Lee’s hosiery shows light-brown lisle socks—supported with dark-brown garters strapped just below his knees with small brass hooks clipped to the top of his socks. He also wears plain white cotton boxer shorts.

In a curious contrast to his linen suiting and breezy short-sleeved shirts that are consistent with Mexico City’s warm climate, Lee wears a businesslike dark-gray felt trilby with a black grosgrain band and self-edged brim—likely another detail inspired by the real Burroughs.

Favored by American businessmen through mid-century as a commute-friendly alternative to fedoras, the shorter-brimmed felt trilby was commonly seen in cities but contributes here to the idiosyncratic Lee’s characteristically offbeat appearance in a context where most men would swap it out for a lighter straw summer hat.

Lee’s period-sourced eyewear are distinctive eyeglasses with thick yellowing clear acetate frames and a straight top bar. Though the manufacturer of these vintage specs may only be known to Anderson and his costume team, many looking for modern alternatives have cited the Cutler & Gross 0822V3 “Granny Chic” as an almost identical model.

During the 1953 epilogue in Mexico City, Lee wears mostly the same costume of a slubby off-white suit, cream popover shirt, yellowing specs, and brown oxfords, though he has swapped out the snub-nosed revolver in his belt holster for a larger semi-automatic in a shoulder rig (more on that later) and also started wearing a wristwatch!

Secured to his left wrist on a dark-brown leather strap, the watch has a small, round gold-finished case and white dial marked with black-printed Arabic hour indices and blue hands. It may be a vintage Omega, given Craig’s Bond-informed habit of wearing Omega watches on- and off-screen, though I don’t believe we see it in enough detail for a positive ID.

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What to Imbibe

In addition to chain-smoking unfiltered Camel cigarettes and a steady drug regimen, Lee lives más on the local spirits, whether it’s repeated shots of mezcal and tequila (with Jose Cuervo and Sauza among the brands spotted) or the Rum and Coke ordered for him by Allerton and garnished with a lime slice.

Lee brags to Allerton about the Napoléon brandy he can offer at his apartment during the first night that Allerton spends there, though the aged cognac layered onto an extended night of drinking causes his young paramour to puke. “Napoleon must’ve pissed in this one,” Allerton quips between coughs, though he eventually acquires some tolerance to it as the bottle’s contents dwindle over the weeks that Lee and Allerton spend together.

To the uninitiated (as Lee playfully accuses Allerton of being), “Napoléon brandy” refers a prestigious grade—rather than a specific brand—of cognac, in which the youngest brandy in its blend has been aged for at least six years. Lee’s wicker-basketed bottle is from the Rivière Gardrat distillery.

Local beers are another mainstay of Lee’s long days and nights in Mexico City, specifically downing cans of Carta Blanca and bottles of Don Quijote, though we never see him join Allerton or his friend Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) who both drink Tecate.

Carta Blanca was the original premium beer produced by the Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma in Monterrey, while the now-defunct Don Quijote was brewed at the Cervecería La Central in Mexico City until the brewery was formally merged into Cuauhtémoc, who had actually acquired it a quarter-century earlier.

Less regionally specific, Lee also drinks a Martini while discussing telepathy with Allerton, with another waiting for him in the wings. Both martinis are garnished with a single olive, though no indication is given as to whether they’re made with gin or vodka… or if they’ve been shaken or stirred.

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The Guns

“Yes, I carry a pistol,” Lee mutters in response to his latest bar pickup (Omar Apollo) asking about it upon watching him undress. It could be argued that Lee’s high-caliber habit is more of a character detail than an instance of the “Chekhov’s gun” literary principle, as he only “uses” one in a finale dream sequence that mirrors how the real Burroughs fatally shot Joan Vollmer in 1951.

The constant presence of firearms in Lee’s life—holstered on his belt, scattered around his apartment, and with more than a half-dozen laid out on his sheets during the opening presences—underscores the danger of his association. Through the first act set in Mexico City, Lee carries a snub-nosed blue steel Colt Detective Special butt-forward on his belt—never drawn but identifiable by the Colt emblem on the walnut grips matching the Detective Special seen in the opening titles. For their South American travels during the second act, Lee swaps this out for an older top-break double-action revolver, though this handgun appears to have smooth wooden grips as opposed to the hard black rubber grips on the Iver Johnson from the credits.

Finally, for the 1953-set epilogue, he carries the downscaled 1911-style pistol which appears to be a Star Model S, representing the .380-caliber Spanish-made Star semi-automatic pistol that James M. Grauerholz identified in a 70-page article as the handgun that Burroughs used to shoot Vollmer in real life.

Spanish firearms manufacturer Star Bonifacio Echeverria, S.A. had started producing copies of John M. Browning’s single-action 1911 pistols shortly after World War I, manufactured in a range of sizes and calibers over the course of the 20th century. The Model S was produced from the 1940s through the early ’80s as essentially a blowback-operated ¾-scaled 1911, chambered in .380 ACP (9mm short) as opposed to the American .45 ACP round.

A later evolution, the Model SS, was cosmetically similar but with a U.S. market-driven magazine safety/disconnect, preventing the pistol from firing without a magazine inserted.  Like Star’s full-size 9mm 1911-clone Model B, the Model S and Model SS lacked the integrated grip safety but maintained a thumb-operated slide safety lever on the left side of the frame.

In addition to paralleling Vollmer’s 1951 death, Lee’s drug-fueled vision of shooting Allerton while the latter balances a whiskey tumbler on his head recalls the scene in Skyfall when Craig’s 007 was handed a single-shot dueling pistol and asked to shoot a glass of 50-year-old Macallan off of a woman’s head. After Bond misses both the glass and the woman, Javier Bardem’s villain shoots her anyway, prompting Bond to callously quip that this was “a waste of good Scotch.”

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How to Get the Look

Queer‘s press material describes William Lee’s attire as “the uniform of a broken dandy”—stained linen suits, egg-hued popovers, tired oxfords, and a misplaced trilby. There’s a version of this outfit that could read like 007 on vacation, but Jonathan Anderson’s costume design resists that temptation, instead dressing Craig in the ruins of a man who once aspired to style… and now just wears the remnants.

• Cream slubby linen suit:
  • Single-breasted 3-button jacket with narrow notch lapels, patch or welted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets, 2- or 3-button cuffs, and single vent
  • Double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, zip fly, side pockets, jetted back pockets (with button-loop back-left pocket), and turn-ups/cuffs
• Light yellow synthetic short-sleeved popover shirt with long four-button placket
• Dark-brown leather belt with gold-toned single-prong buckle
• Black leather OWB belt holster
• Dark taupe-brown leather oxford-laced ankle boots
• Light-brown lisle knee-high socks
• Dark-brown sock garters
• White cotton boxer shorts
• Gray felt trilby with black grosgrain band and short, self-edged brim
• Yellowing clear acetate-framed eyeglasses with straight top bar

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and Burroughs’ novella. And don’t apologize at breakfast.

Sources:

• Cultured — “Are Filmmaker Luca Guadagnino and Designer Jonathan Anderson 2024’s Most Influential Power Couple?” by Sophie Lee
• i-D — “Cocaine White, Heroin Brown: How Jonathan Anderson Found the Palette for Queer” by Colleen Kelsey
• New York Times — “Transforming Daniel Craig Into a Very Grimy William Burroughs” by Jacob Gallagher
• Variety — “Jonathan Anderson on Dressing Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey in ‘Queer’ and His Friendship With Luca Guadagnino: ‘I Feel Like I’ve Known Him My Entire Life’” by Anna Tingley
• Vogue — ““I Felt Like a Student Again”: Jonathan Anderson on Designing Queer’s Sensual (and Sensational) Costumes” by Liam Hess
• Washington Post — “Jonathan Anderson gets dirty with costumes for ‘Queer'” by Rachel Tashjian
• The Wrap — “‘Queer’: Why Fashion Designer Jonathan Anderson Was Consulted About Casting Drew Starkey” by Joe McGovern

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The Quote

We’re all parts of a tremendous whole. There’s no use fighting it.